Dev.D

When asked why he chose newcomer Abhay Deol, director Anurag Kashyap simply replied: "He turned out to be one of the best. When everyone wants to be a Hero, he plays his character."

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Director Danny Boyle helped Anurag Kashyap by introducing him to a special camera he had brought from the Netherlands, which assisted in the 'trip' scenes. This allowed Kashyap to show what was happening in the characters' minds during the drug sequences without actually showing the drugs.

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The MMS video from the time when Chanda was a minor high school girl in Delhi was inspired by the real-life MMS video of a minor schoolgirl from Delhi that caused a major scandal in India in 2004. Just like Chanda's father in the film, the real girl's father killed himself.

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On the FIR page at 2:01:13, among the names of the victims is 'Salman Khan', who in real life was charged in a hit-and-run case, just like the film's protagonist played by Abhay Deol.

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The location shown in the film as Chandigarh Airport (where Dev arrives from London) is actually Chandigarh Railway Station.

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Dev. D was set to mark Amit Trivedi's debut as a music director, but for various reasons the completion and release of Dev. D took time, and by then Aamir (2008) had been released, which ultimately became his debut as a composer. Anurag Kashyap had in fact recommended Amit Trivedi to Raj Kumar Gupta for Aamir.

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Anurag Kashyap married Kalki Koechlin after they met during the shooting of Dev. D.

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This is the debut for both Mahie Gill and Kalki Koechlin.

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In Dev D there is a scene where Dev is in a bar and in the foreground is Dileep Singh, the protagonist of Gulaal (2:05:49).

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The song Emotional Attyachar had previously been used in the 1988 film Om Dar Ba Dar. The song was pictured on Anita Kanwar.

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There are numerous references to Devdas (2002) (since Dev D and Devdas (2002) are both based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel "Devdas"). The film Leni/Chanda watches on the bus and later in her room in the brothel, where she chooses the name Chanda, is Devdas (2002). Outside the secret bar in New Delhi that Dev visits, there is a poster taken from Devdas (2002) showing Shah Rukh Khan lighting a cigarette.

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Amit Trivedi explained that he wanted two Qawwali singers to sing the song Emotional Atyachar. Anurag Kashyap was very particular about the track, so when Amit Trivedi and Amitabh Bhattacharya presented the song to Anurag Kashyap singing it in their own voices, he liked it so much that he abandoned the idea of using Qawwali singers and had them sing the song in their own voices.

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Abhay Deol's character falls into depression after losing both of the heroines in the film. He is later shown driving his new BMW while extremely drunk. This is a reference to the 1999 Sanjeev Nanda BMW hit-and-run case.

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Anurag Kashyap did not want to make the film like the previous Devdas films. He wanted to make the film based on the same novel but set in modern times.

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The film became a surprise hit because it had no big stars, and it performed well at the box office.

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The two men who sing Emotional Atyachaar during Paro's wedding are Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sunil Grover.

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Amitabh Bhattacharya had sung the song Emotional Atyachar in a cracked voice. He also wanted to be a singer and felt that if this became his debut as a singer, he would not get any work. Therefore, in the song's credits he is also mentioned as Bandmaster Rangeela and Rasila.

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Anurag Kashyap said: "My films reflect India's existing little-known pockets, the underground India. Like Paharganj in Dev D or the royal underworld of Gulaal, the massage parlour in Sarı Çizmeli. There are people and communities that exist but are not very well known. My films are about subcultures."

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Opium Head by Solace was inspired by the Dev D soundtrack.

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Emosanal Atyachar was credited as a song by Rangeela and Rasila, sung by composer Amit Trivedi and lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya.

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The film's DVD was released with an additional DVD containing two hours of special footage about the making of the film.

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Kalki said: "The producers of Dev D contacted me directly to audition for the role of Chanda, while Anurag Kashyap was completely against the idea. After seeing my portfolio, Anurag rejected me, saying I was not Indian and did not suit the role. But the production house secretly cast me without telling Anurag and sent him the audition tape for his feedback. After hesitantly agreeing to watch the audition, he was so impressed that he called me immediately and offered me the part."

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Anurag Kashyap got Abhay Deol drunk all night, then had him come in the morning and shoot. He needed the hungover look of tired eyes and a puffy face.

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Anurag Kashyap said: "If I had to make a film about today's youth, people would run away and I would have no one to support the project. But the moment you say Devdas, people start getting interested. So I needed Devdas to be able to make my film."

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Anurag Kashyap said: "I was an alcoholic and I tried drugs. I was a bum and I suffered severe depression three times. I made big mistakes in the past and ruined a great relationship. I walked Paharganj from end to end doing the things Dev does in the film."

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The film was delayed because Anurag Kashyap took a long time to settle on an actress for the role of Chandramukhi. Kalki Koechlin was the last woman to audition for the role.

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The film was also released in Punjabi, English, French and Tamil.

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Shweta Bhardwaj auditioned for the film but was rejected.

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In the film, Kalki Koechlin reads the book Contempt, written by Alberto Moravia. Jean-Luc Godard's film Contempt (1963) was based on that book.

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Anurag Kashyap considered naming the film "Dev OD" (Overdose).

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After the No Smoking disaster, it was said that UTV was backing Anurag Kashyap's next directorial film, Dev D. However, Anurag Kashyap denied the rumours and said UTV was largely producing the film.

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Tabbasum's granddaughter Kushi was offered the film but she refused.

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Legend has it that for nine years the voices behind Emosanal Atyachar from Dev D were two unknown singers from Himachal Pradesh, until composer Amit Trivedi revealed that the one humming the song was actually himself and lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya. The 2009 Anurag Kashyap film became hugely popular for Trivedi's music. While all the songs were loved, Emosanal Atyachar became the biggest hit and earned its place in pop culture over the years. Interestingly, the song was attributed to two unknown singers: group master Rangeela and Rasila. Both Kashyap and Trivedi spoke very harshly about them and claimed the duo disappeared without a trace after the recording. In an interview with PTI, Trivedi recounts details of how the song was composed for the film, which released in February 2009. "Anurag wanted the song to be a certain way. That was his vision. The term 'duygusal atyachaar' was his, and the idea of doing it in a brass-band style was his too. I just executed his vision and plan," he says. "While Amitabh and I were creating the song, we thought we would first sing it ourselves to show Anurag what we had done. Then we would find some qawwali singers or really interesting cool guys to sing it," he adds. Things turned around when Kashyap liked the scratch version. "Anurag got angry and said, 'Why do you want to change the voice?' 'But this is just the scratch version, Amitabh and I are singing,' I said. 'This is exactly what I want!' he said. Amitabh was scared because he had not sung in his normal voice. We tweaked it a bit and caricatured our voices. Amitabh also wanted to be a singer so he was scared. 'I want to be a singer and if this comes out I won't get work,' he said. We were scared. We changed the name to group leader Rangeela and Rasila. So yes, we are them!" Trivedi explained.

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Anurag Kashyap said: "We did not want to show Dev actually getting hooked on drugs, we just wanted to create the feeling. So I asked Danny whether he could attach the camera, whether the image on screen could go crazy without spending too much money on SFX. He told me about the steady camera he used in the riot scene in Slumdog Millionaire, or at the end in the scene where Salim throws money at the camera. We used that camera, and that is why I thank him in the opening title sequence of Dev. D."

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Anurag saw Mahie Gill at a party. It was at the birthday party of a boy named Shaurya, the son of Dibyendu Bhattacharya (who was Chunni in Dev. D). Anurag saw her dancing at the party and offered her the role immediately.

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Radhika Apte described the Dev D audition as the strangest audition of her life. She said: "For the Dev D audition I had to have phone sex. I used to live in Pune. At that time I had never had phone sex. And I had to do it in front of everyone. But I did it and it was great! It was a lot of fun, but obviously I did not get the role."

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The film was not shown in cinemas in British Columbia, Canada.

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Abhishek Banerjee auditioned for a role in the film and was rejected.

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Dev.D was shot at Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh.

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Anurag Kashyap said, "The spirit of Devdas changed, so the entire film is different. The whole premise of Devdas was built on a lack of communication. But this is an age of communication, where people can talk to each other every day if they want to. Also, in the era when the novel was written, alcohol was a taboo. People who drank were usually society's outcasts. But alcohol is part of our lives today. And there are various other modes of the self." Devdas's emotions were very external — he was like a drama queen. But this Devdas was more internal — he did not share Paro with anyone, and he carried his pain inside. Today there is no naachnewaali or quota, so how would Paro be today, since sexuality is no longer in the closet? In the past, the three characters were an add-on; they carried the story forward. Dev D is about roughly three people: Chanda, Paro and Dev.

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Anurag Kashyap said, "I made many changes. The Devdas trio is just a device to tell the story. Dev D is not only about Dev, it is also about Chanda (Chandramukhi) and Paro. Three characters whose lives intersect on a journey of self-discovery. In some ways I turned the original story upside down. Chanda (played by Kalki Koechlin) is an ordinary college girl who is a call girl at night. In one scene, while smoking a cigarette and watching Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas on television, she suddenly decides to call herself Chandramukhi. The story is inspired by young people from Delhi's affluent families, the kind you read about in newspapers, who experiment with drugs and alcohol and end up making mistakes that change their lives."

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Anurag Kashyap said, "I have known Vikramaditya through Abhay (Deol) since the days I made my first film, Paanch. The idea of making Devdas was Abhay's. When Abhay said he wanted to play Devdas, the two of us were watching a World Cup football match. I had always wanted to make my own Devdas, so it was decided that night. It took Vikramaditya and me about 14 months to complete the script. While writing, they cast Mahie Gill as Paro and Abhay was already playing the lead, so the script was written keeping both of them in mind."

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Anurag Kashyap said: "Dev D is Abhay Deol's concept. Abhay was the trigger point that made me look at Devdas from another angle. He told me a story about a man who visits a strip club in Los Angeles, and at the end of the story he said: 'Guess what… that guy is Devdas.' That triggered many ideas in my mind. I was always accused of not being able to make a love story. This time I decided to make a real and identifiable love story."

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Anurag Kashyap said, "I had always wanted to make a film about relationships, but I had a problem with the way they are shown in our films. They never looked real, and the emotional interaction was always over the top. But when Abhay Deol told me the idea of a stripper in a moonlight bar and her heartbroken, self-destructive admirer, I realized the potential of interpreting Devdas in a modern context."

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The brass band and rock versions of Emosanal Atyachar are great songs. But when it comes to a breakup, the X-rated version completely surpasses the official versions. Although Kashyap claims it was created by a fan, the sound is far too familiar to the brass band (Amit Trivedi and Amitabh Bhattacharya). It is guessed that the makers of Dev D were in a nautanki mood when they made this X-rated thing. They did not want to admit that they created it themselves. It is available on YouTube. Of course, it could not be released. So it was toned down for the Emosanal Atyachar that was released. But Kashyap and company could no longer hide its 'creation.'.

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Amit Trivedi said, "A mutual friend and singer, Shilpa Rao, met Anurag Kashyap two and a half years ago at a film festival where Anurag spoke about Dev. D. He asked Shilpa whether she knew anyone new in music. She introduced me to him, and when I gave him a demo of some random songs and sounds I had recorded, he liked it. Six months later, six tracks of Dev. D were ready. At that stage I had not read the script, but Anurag had told me. He told me it was a modern interpretation of Devdas and explained what kind of music and sounds he was looking for. Two months later I gave him two more tracks. In January 2008 we returned to Dev D. After reading the script, I added Pardesi, Saali khushi and Emotional atyachar."

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